Bungee Jumping--Wheeee!

So today I found out why I've been having back pain.  The results of my x-rays revealed that lovely little hereditary condition (thanks, Dad) called arthritis.  I now know I have it in my right knee, two index fingers, and my lower back.  At this rate I'll be falling apart by the time I'm 60.  At some point I'll have to give up typing, bike riding and pretzel-twisted sexual positions.  You can either laugh or cry at these revelations.

In another two weeks I'll be 54.  Oh, I don't even want to look at that number!  Maybe I'll just turn it around.  Yes, that's it.  45.  I'll be 45.  Sure, that's it.  Perhaps if I think I'm really 45 I'll act more like 45.  And they better not be sending me anymore of those freakin' AARP letters!  Sorry, wrong address, must be a mistake.  You want the neighbor next door.  She has gray hair, after all, I don't.  I'm not ready for the rocking chair yet, baby.  Hey, I still exercise, speed walk, bike ride, lift weights, and take in an occasional belly dancing class.

I'm holding onto my "youth" as long as I can.  I refuse to age.  "Not gonna do it", as the elder George Bush would say.  Nope.  My husband calls me his "old lady."  Yes, he knows I hate that.  He loves to make me grit my teeth and give him that "I'm gonna kill you" kind of look.  Don't worry, that's just his way of teasing me.  He knows how to push my buttons like nobody else.

But I'll have the last laugh.  Lots of people think he is older than I am when in fact I am older than him.   And at a recent family get-together (his side), five of us were seated on two couches--my husband, his younger brother, youngest sister, oldest sister, and myself.  One of the kids at the party (who is a teenager) tried to guess who was the youngest of all I just mentioned.  She picked me.  In truth, I am the second oldest of the five.  So that made me feel pretty darn good.

Yes, some people think age is just a number, and I suppose it is.  But creeping closer to that Senior Citizen club doesn't interest me too much.  I love being around young people.  I love their energy, enthusiasm, zest for life, fun-loving ways, sense of adventure.  Life has so many possibilities when you think you have many years, rather than a decade or two left to live.

So, I'm not counting out doing something really wild and crazy somewhere within the next five years or so.  It just might happen.  I understand people who go through mid-life crisis.  They examine their lives and say:  How the hell did I get to be this age?  Have I done everything I ever wanted to do?  If not, damn it, I'm gonna!

Excuse me now.  I've gotta go sign up for a bungee jumping class.